“Puja organisers are facing a serious challenge in the regime of the new demon — GST. Most of the big Pujas depend on sponsorships, advertisements and donations because the subscription collection contributes not even 10 per cent of the budget. Unfortunately, advertising revenues have dried up and, accordingly, Puja committees have curtailed their budgets by 15-20 per cent, depending on their size,” Kolkata Municipal Corporation councillor Asim Kumar Bose, who is involved with 14 Puja committees, told IANS.

Partha Ghosh, the President of the Forum of Durgotsav said the new Tax in unclear to the organizers. “The consumer goods sector, which has been a major source of revenue for organizers over the years, has not been forthcoming this year. They have displayed reservations and hesitation. As a result, the revenue declined 20 per cent on an average compared to last year. But in many cases, the downswing is more than 30 per cent,” Ghosh told IANS. 

Many FMCG companies had reported a decline in the revenues for the April-June quarter. They cited “destocking running up to GST” as the reason. 

The organizers are presently hoping that they don’t have to face such a tough situation next year. The situation is even worse for the community Durga Puja organizers in the suburbs, as they have to mostly depend on small ticket advertisements. There has also been a sharp drop in the donations, as reported by Bose.

“Most idols were booked during the Rath Yatra festival which took place prior to the GST roll-out. But after the GST came into being, we found the prices of many items had increased, which translated into a cost surge of about 20 per cent. We just cannot pass on the extra cost to buyers as prices were finalised earlier,” Pradyut Pal, an idol marker from the city’s Kumartoli potters’ colony, told IANS. “Had we been able to factor in the post-GST prices in our cost, we would not have been staring at such poor margins,” said Pal, who sent five idols abroad this year. 

Explaining how the GST was impacting the cost, he said zari and clothes, essential items for making the dresses for the idols and also used in the decorations, were attracting 12% and 5% GST while earlier there was less tax on them. According to Pal, idol makers, post GST, have been paying 3.5% more tax on the tin used to make the weapons placed in the hands of the idols. 

Sources –The Economic Times

We have launched Single Platform on GST Compliances In India, assisting in 4 areas – 1) Migration, 2) GST Compliance, 3) Training and 4) Transition & Implementation. Click this link for any assistance

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________